The Newburyport Daily News, Monday, March 5, 2007By Will Broaddus, correspondent
ROWLEY - “Two and one” is a standard dispatcher’s call, according to Fire Chief James Broderick, that summons two water-pumping engines and one ladder truck to a fire.
Right now, according to the chief’s testimony at last Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting, if that call were issued, the Rowley Fire Department could respond, but with less than full confidence in its equipment.
In asking the board for a new engine, the chief pointed out that one of his original two is having body work done. At 20 years old, the age at which fire engines are normally replaced, removing extensive corrosion may extend its life by eight years, but only if it is returned to a reserve, rather than a lead response role.
Its absence leaves Broderick to depend on another 20-year-old truck, one from Georgetown Fire Department that ‘basically they threw out.’
The asking price for a new engine, $411,000, is $11,000 more than last year, when the chief first made his request. New requirements from the EPA on diesel emissions add to the cost for manufacturers and new FAA [sic] rules would force the chief to buy new radios instead of salvaging those from his current engine.
These additions occur in an economy with rising fuel prices that make processing raw materials increasingly expensive, escalating costs for a business in which just-in-time manufacturing produces only 600 or 700 new engines a year.
Every year that the town waits, the chief pointed out at the meeting, a new engine is going to be significantly more expensive. Meanwhile, if a fire were to break out at one of the buildings in town that estimates determine would take the full pumping capacity of two engines to control, the department would be left with no backup to handle any additional outbreaks, while relying on a truck that should have been at least partially retired.
The chief’s request comes in a year when town departments are “level funded,” allowing for no increases.
Citing the failure of all seven budget overrides attempted last year, Selectman David Petersen pointed out that this year, the board hoped to increase its chances of success by asking for only three.
Adding a fire engine to the list would increase the total amount requested to nearly a million dollars, Petersen added, and that might produce only voter resistance.
What he could offer was a commitment to make next year “the year of the Fire Department,” when Broderick’s requests would get priority. In the meantime, mutual aid, the system by which surrounding towns respond to each other’s emergency needs, would have to be “our fallback for another year.”
Selectman Richard Cummings added that for the present, “You can’t prioritize the priority list -- everything’s a priority.”
Broderick said that this was not what he had hoped to hear. “We’re continually in the same boat,” he said.
Webmaster’s note: The Board of Selectmen may be contacted at 978 948-2372 or via email at Selectmen@Towno
